he saw the
light, and sought to draw the world toward it. He stands among
the great pioneers of physical and natural science; he aided in
giving foundations to botany and chemistry; he rose above his
time, and struck a heavy blow at those who opposed the
possibility of human life on opposite sides of the earth; he
noted the influence of mountains, seas, and forests upon races
and products, so that Humboldt justly finds in his works the
germs of physical geography as a comprehensive science.
But the old system of deducing scientific truth from scriptural
texts was renewed in the development of scholastic theology, and
ecclesiastical power, acting through thousands of subtle
channels, was made to aid this development. The old idea of the
futility of physical science and of the vast superiority of
theology was revived. Though Albert's main effort was to
Christianize science, he was dealt with by the authorities of
the Dominican order, subjected to suspicion and indignity, and
only escaped persecution for sorcery by yielding to the
ecclesiastical spirit of the time, and working finally in
theological channels by, scholastic methods.
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